- Level
- Item
- ID
- Item 3351
- Source
- Archival Descriptions
- Level
- Item
- Item
- 3351
- Material Format
- graphic material
- Date
- [192-]
- Physical Description
- 2 photographs : b&w (1 negative) ; 21 x 26 cm and 10 x 12 cm
- Scope and Content
- This item is a copy print and corresponding negative of a group of children and teachers in front of the Anshe Sholom Temple in Hamilton, Ontario. The temple was located on Hughson Street.
- Notes
- The photograph is somewhat pixilated and may have been copied from a book or newspaper.
- Name Access
- Temple Anshe Sholom (Hamilton, Ont.)
- Subjects
- Children
- Synagogues
- Teachers
- Repro Restriction
- Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.
- Places
- Hamilton (Ont.)
- Accession Number
- 1982-8-14
- Source
- Archival Descriptions
- Address
- 42 St George Street
- Source
- Landmarks
In 1919, Mr. Mendel Granatstein commissioned Benjamin Brown and Robert McConnell to design a three storey Classical Georgian style house located at 42 St. George Street. The house contained a unique feature -- a retractable roof used on Sukkoth. In 1947, the house was acquired by the University of Toronto and was used for a variety of purposes until it was demolished in 1999. The Bahen Centre for Information Technology now stands in its place.
- Address
- 42 St George Street
- Time Period
- 1919-1999
- Scope Note
- In 1919, Mr. Mendel Granatstein commissioned Benjamin Brown and Robert McConnell to design a three storey Classical Georgian style house located at 42 St. George Street. The house contained a unique feature -- a retractable roof used on Sukkoth. In 1947, the house was acquired by the University of Toronto and was used for a variety of purposes until it was demolished in 1999. The Bahen Centre for Information Technology now stands in its place.
- History
- Mr. Mendel Granatstein was a member of one of the early Jewish families of Toronto. In 1895, he founded M. Granatstein and Sons, Ltd., a junk dealing company, and by the early 20th century, he had become one of the most prosperous Jews in Toronto. Mr. Granatstein was also a community leader, having a hand in the foundation of Beth Jacob Synagogue.
- Category
- Architecture
- Residences
- Source
- Landmarks
- Level
- Item
- ID
- Item 1852
- Source
- Archival Descriptions
- Level
- Item
- Item
- 1852
- Material Format
- graphic material
- Date
- 1929
- Physical Description
- 2 photographs : b&w (1 negative)
- Scope and Content
- Identified in this composite photograph, on the right is: Abraham Greenspan.
- Name Access
- Greenspan, Abraham
- Slobodka-Kovna Yeshiva
- Subjects
- Students
- Teachers
- Yeshivas
- Repro Restriction
- Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.
- Accession Number
- 1979-12-11
- Source
- Archival Descriptions
- Level
- Item
- ID
- Item 6103
- Source
- Archival Descriptions
- Level
- Item
- Item
- 6103
- Material Format
- graphic material
- Date
- [between 1920 and 1939]
- Physical Description
- 1 photograph : b&w, postcard ; 14 x 9 cm
- Scope and Content
- Photographic postcard of Mr. Robinson (Reubinson), a teacher (?), probably in Toronto, in the 1920s or 1930s.
- Name Access
- Robinson
- Reubinson
- Subjects
- Postcards
- Teachers
- Repro Restriction
- Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.
- Places
- Toronto (Ont.)
- Accession Number
- 1984-8-4
- Source
- Archival Descriptions
- Level
- Item
- ID
- Item 1733
- Source
- Archival Descriptions
- Level
- Item
- Item
- 1733
- Material Format
- graphic material
- Date
- 1928
- Physical Description
- 2 photographs : b&w (1 negative)
- Scope and Content
- Reb. Israel Fortinsky in pictured in the second row, extreme right.
- Name Access
- Fortinsky, Israel
- Yeshiva Toras Chaim
- Subjects
- Students
- Teachers
- Yeshivas
- Repro Restriction
- Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.
- Places
- Toronto (Ont.)
- Accession Number
- 1979-7-3
- Source
- Archival Descriptions
- Level
- Item
- ID
- Item 4294
- Source
- Archival Descriptions
- Level
- Item
- Item
- 4294
- Material Format
- graphic material
- Date
- [1925 or 1926]
- Physical Description
- 2 photographs : b&w (1 negative)
- Scope and Content
- Identified third from left: William Shankman.
- Notes
- Photo by Midland Press Agency, 520 Suffolk St., Birmingham.
- Subjects
- Orchestra
- Theaters
- Repro Restriction
- Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.
- Places
- Birmingham (England)
- Accession Number
- 1987-9-5
- Source
- Archival Descriptions
- Level
- Item
- ID
- Item 1711
- Source
- Archival Descriptions
- Level
- Item
- Item
- 1711
- Material Format
- graphic material
- Date
- 1928
- Physical Description
- 2 photographs : b&w (1 negative)
- Admin History/Bio
- I. L. Madorsky was a teacher.
- Name Access
- Madorsky, I. L
- Subjects
- Teachers
- Repro Restriction
- Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.
- Places
- Toronto (Ont.)
- Accession Number
- 1979-3-8
- Source
- Archival Descriptions
- Part Of
- Isaac Matenko fonds
- Level
- Fonds
- Fonds
- 89
- Material Format
- graphic material
- textual record
- Date
- 1911-1971, predominant 1911-1935
- Physical Description
- 6 cm of textual records
- 17 photographs
- Admin History/Bio
- Isaac Matenko (1874–1960) was a founder, teacher, and principal of the I. L. Peretz School. He worked tirelessly to preserve and promote secular Jewish culture and the Yiddish language in Toronto. He was also a prominent member of local Jewish organizations, such as the Socialist-Territorialist Club and the Yiddish Kultur Gesellshaft.
- Isaac was born on 1 February 1874 in the town of Makariv, located in the Kyiv Oblast (province) of Ukraine. He married Elke Yelia Moshkevitch (1878–19 November 1953) on 4 August 1900 in Yekaterinoslav (today Dnipro). They immigrated from czarist Russia to Toronto in 1906, passing first through New York with their two children, Percy (30 June 1901–May 1987) and Theodore (1903–1906, died of measles at Ellis Island), and Yelia’s three sisters, Dvora, Bracha, and Celia, and Isaac’s younger half-brother, Paul Frumhartz. They had two more children after arriving: Abraham (14 August 1908–October 24, 1989) and Shoshana (Sue) (1911–2001). Although he had been a teacher in Russia, Isaac worked as an operator in a cloak factory in Toronto, where he was instrumental in forming the union (likely the Cloakmakers’ Union of Toronto, which later affiliated with the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union).
- As a child, Isaac received a traditional Jewish education. This, combined with his self-taught secular education and the teachings of Yiddish nationalist Dr. Chaim Zhitlovski, informed his future career and philosophies. He was described as an idealist by his friends, whose dedication to Yiddish culture and language motivated him to bring this knowledge to a younger generation.
- On 11 July 1911, Isaac and his fellow Socialist-Territorialist members established the Toronto Yiddish National-Radical School. By 1916, it had been taken over by the Workmen’s Circle and renamed the I. L. Peretz School, after the well-known Yiddish author and playwright. The school began in a rented room at the Zionist Institute on Simcoe Street, moving to larger locations on Richmond Street West, then Beverley Street as it grew. Eventually, several more branches opened, such as the Maria Street school that Isaac was affiliated with. He taught at the school for free in the evenings after working during the day in a shop. His brother Paul was also a founding teacher at the school.
- Isaac was described by family, friends, and community members as a passionate teacher with an iron will. He was well-versed in Jewish knowledge, with a desire to pass it on to a younger generation and his fellow union members. He remained involved in the school and in teaching, even after retirement. He died on 2 June 1960 at the age of eighty-six.
- Custodial History
- These records were donated to the OJA by Sue Levy, daughter of Isaac Matenko.
- Scope and Content
- Fonds consists of records documenting Isaac Matenko's involvement with the Workmen's Circle and other Jewish organizations. Included are photographs, programmes, certificates, I. L. Peretz School jubilee books, a songbook, a yearbook, articles, and newsclippings.
- Fonds has been arranged into one series for the Workmen's Circle. There are also two files attached to the fonds-level. The records are described at the series and file-level, with some item-level descriptions.
- Name Access
- Arbeiter Ring
- Arbeiter Ring Schools
- Arbeter Ring
- Camp Yungvelt
- Frumhartz, Paul
- I.L. Peretz
- Matenko, Isaac, 1874-1960
- Matenko, Percy
- National Radical School
- Peretz Shule
- Workman's Circle
- Workmen's Circle
- Subjects
- Schools
- Teachers
- Yiddish language
- Related Material
- For additional Workmen's Circle records, see: accessions 1979-4-4, 1980-2-2, 1983-6-3, 1984-10-1, 1986-4-1, 1992-1-2, 1997-2-1, 1998-3-32, 2004-5-41, 2004-5-105, and fonds 30.
- For additional Camp Yungvelt records, see: accessions 1979-4-4, 1986-4-1, 1991-12-4, 1993-6-6, 1999-5-1, 2004-5-37, 2005-6-4, 2006-12-3, photographs # 2964, # 4014, # 6021, MG2N1K, Benjamin Brown fonds 49, and Dorothy Dworkin Fonds 10 (item 14).
- Creator
- Matenko, Isaac, 1874-1960
- Accession Number
- 1987-11-4
- 1991-4-2
- 2007-5-3
- 2007-6-28
- Source
- Archival Descriptions
- Part Of
- Patricia Joy Alpert fonds
- Level
- Fonds
- Fonds
- 77
- Material Format
- textual record
- graphic material
- sound recording
- Date
- [ca. 1907]-2001, predominant 1990-2001
- Physical Description
- 1.2 m of textual records and other material
- Admin History/Bio
- Patricia Joy Alpert (1931-2001) was an internationally-acclaimed artist, teacher, and dynamic community leader, most notably serving as national president of Canadian Hadassah-WIZO from 1996 to 1999. Pat was born in Toronto in 1931 to parents Oscar and Gertrude Pattenick. Oscar Pattenick, the son of Benjamin Pattenick and Pauline Goldenberg, was born in 1892 in Galicia and immigrated to Canada with his brother as a young man. The brothers ran a retail clothing business that expanded to several locations around Ontario, including Toronto and Bowmanville. Oscar married Gertrude Breslin (1896-1988) in 1917. She was one of fourteen children of Hyman Breslin and Sarah Pearl Papernick and had been raised in Toronto. Together the couple raised three children: Bernard (Boon), and twin girls Patricia and Pearl.
- Pat and her sister showed artistic talent from an early age. After graduating from Oakwood Collegiate Institute, Pat enrolled at the University of Miami and graduated with a BA in art history in 1956. She started her career as a designer and display artist at the Simpson department store, doing freelance artwork and volunteering at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Pat married Herbert S. Alpert in 1958 and they had two daughters, Lisa and Nancy. Pat went back to school at Toronto Teacher's College and then taught kindergarten for eleven years for the North York Board of Education. She also earned a supervisor's art certificate and taught art at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Royal Ontario Museum, North York Public Library, and Associated Hebrew Schools. Her artistic career took off in the 1970s, when her drawings were exhibited in solo and group exhibitions around North America. She typically drew human figures using ink.
- Pat Alpert’s volunteer work began soon after her marriage, when she joined Toronto's Carmel chapter of Hadassah as a way to make new friends. In 1983, she became president of Toronto Hadassah-WIZO, serving until 1985. She continued with Toronto Hadassah as vice-president and corresponding secretary. Pat was deeply committed to Jewish life and to the State of Israel. Choosing Hadassah as the focus of her passion, she left her professional career in the 1990s to become a full-time volunteer. She served as chair of the Canadian Hadassah-WIZO Foundation, vice-president of National Hadassah, national president from 1996 to 1999 and president of Toronto Jewish National Fund from 1992 to 1994. Pat also held positions for Israel Bonds, Jewish Women’s Federation, B’nai Brith League for Human Rights, the Holocaust Centre of Toronto, Baycrest Women’s Auxiliary and board of governors, and Reena Foundation. Pat Alpert died on October 4, 2001, at the age of seventy.
- Custodial History
- Donated by Herbert Alpert in late 2001 or early 2002. No documentation for this donation could be found when it was assigned an accession number in October 2002 during an inventory of the vault. Pat Alpert's daughter Nancy Spring was contacted in 2009 to sign a deed of gift.
- Scope and Content
- Fonds contains records documenting Patricia Joy Alpert's personal, professional and volunteer-related activities. The records include textual material, photographs, and a sound recording of a radio show announcing an exhibit of Alpert's work. The records of Alpert's professional career as an artist and a teacher are comprised of curriculum vitae and brief biographies, exhibit records and correspondence. Samples of Alpert's drawings are included, dating from the 1940s to the 1970s. The records relating to Alpert's community leadership include a large number of speeches, clippings, articles, correspondence, cards and letters, meeting minutes, and unique diary entries meticulously detailing Hadassah business, conversations and controversies. There are minutes from the following entities: Hadassah National Officers, Hadassah National Executive Board, World WIZO Executive and Canadian Hadassah Foundation. Other organizations represented in the records include the Jewish National Fund, Baycrest Women’s Auxiliary, Canada-Israel Cultural Foundation, and State of Israel Bonds.
- The personal records in the fonds include letters written by Pat to Herbert when he was working in England during parts of 1968-1970, letters exchanged between Pat and her daughters when the girls were at camp in 1971 and 1973, and a collection of clippings spanning twenty years in which Alpert appears. As well, there is a notebook of Pat's Torah observations, thoughts and quotations. The personal series also contains records of Gertrude Pattenick's: a handwritten homemaker's guide and recipe book, ca. 1907, and several letters exchanged between Gertrude and Oscar before and during their marriage. One file contains the obituary of Gertrude and the condolences received by Pat.
- There are approximately 3175 photographs (218 negs and 45 slides) in the fonds. These are of Hadassah conferences and annual conventions, meetings, social events, Hadassah projects in Israel (contact sheets) and images of Alpert's drawings. Many of the photographs were originally in four scrapbooks Alpert created: three to highlight the events of her Hadassah presidency and one she titled "Important Moments" that spans the 1980s and 1990s. The scrapbook files (in box 3) contain photographs, clippings and a number of event programs. The photographs include images of Alpert at special events and conventions, as a speaker, meeting people, socializing and travelling in Israel and to international Hadassah events around the world.
- The poster in the fonds is for an event organized by the Women's Auxiliary of Baycrest Centre in 1981, the second annual Camerata concert and gala reception.
- The fonds is arranged in 6 series: 1. Personal; 2. Professional; 3. Toronto Hadassah; 4. Hadassah-WIZO Canada; 5. Jewish National Fund; 5. Hadassah-WIZO of Canada Foundation; Other organizations.
- Notes
- Physical description note: Includes ca. 3175 photographs (218 negatives and 45 slides), 1 cassette tape and 1 poster.
- Name Access
- Alpert, Patricia Joy, 1931-2001
- Hadassah-WIZO Organization of Canada (Subject)
- Subjects
- Artists
- Teachers
- Volunteers
- Access Restriction
- Partially closed. Researchers must receive permission from the OJA director prior to accessing some of the records.
- Arrangement
- The arrangement of the fonds was constructed by the archivist. The scrapbooks were taken apart and the captions for each event provided the titles for the files.
- Creator
- Alpert, Patricia Joy, 1931-2001
- Accession Number
- 2002-10-65
- Source
- Archival Descriptions
- Part Of
- Harold S. Kaplan fonds
- Architectural projects series
- Loew's Theatre (189 Yonge St., Toronto) sub-series
- Level
- Sub-series
- ID
- Fonds 27; Series 1-1
- Source
- Archival Descriptions
- Part Of
- Harold S. Kaplan fonds
- Architectural projects series
- Loew's Theatre (189 Yonge St., Toronto) sub-series
- Level
- Sub-series
- Fonds
- 27
- Series
- 1-1
- Material Format
- architectural drawing
- textual record
- Date
- 1913-1959
- Physical Description
- 57 drawings : pencil on tracing paper, blueprints and other reproductions ; 72 x 114 cm or smaller
- 1 cm of textual records
- Admin History/Bio
- Built in 1913, Loew's Yonge Street Theatre and Winter Garden Theatre complex was the flagship of Marcus Loew's Canadian theatre chain. The theatres were designed by Thomas Lamb as a "double-decker" theatre, with the Winter Garden located seven-stories above the street-level Yonge Street Theatre. This was the only double-decker theatre built in Canada and one of less than a dozen built internationally. The design was considered economical in that it provided a greater amount of seating on a given piece of real estate while allowing the theatre operator to present the same daily show in two theatres. The shows included both vaudeville acts and silent movies.
- In 1928, there was a major fire on the site and the Winter Garden Theatre was closed due to the decline in popularity of vaudeville. By 1930, the Yonge Street Theatre was solely a movie theatre, equipped for sound movies. Over the years it gradually fell into disrepair, but continued as a movie theatre until 1981. It was renamed the Elgin Theatre in 1978.
- In 1981, the Elgin and Winter Garden were purchased by the Ontario Heritage Foundation, and in 1987 the foundation began a two and half year, $30 million restoration of the theatres. The theatres re-opened in Dec. 1989 exclusively for theatrical productions.
- Scope and Content
- Sub-series consists of seating plans, blueprints of structural details, and floor plans, sections and elevations for successive alterations (to the entrance, lobby, basement, etc.) of the theatre. The sub-series includes a copy of a city building permit dating from 1934 for renovations carried out by Loew's Theatres Engineering Division. Some of the blueprints date from the original construction of the theatre in 1913.
- The sub-series is organized into 9 sub-sub-series, corresponding to project dates of 1913, 1919, 1934, 1939, 1949 (two projects), 1952, 1957 and 1959. The earliest materials, such as those from 1913 and 1919, were not created by Kaplan & Sprachman, but were no doubt used as reference materials for their work at the theatre.
- Please note that the blueprints of structural details such as columns and roof reinforcing beams may apply to the theatre complex as a whole, including the Winter Garden Theatre.
- Notes
- Title is derived from the formal titles of the drawings.
- Name Access
- Lamb, Thomas
- Elgin Theatre (Toronto)
- Winter Garden Theatre (Toronto)
- Subjects
- Theaters
- Physical Condition
- Some drawings are torn & damaged.
- Some are discoloured or damaged by deteriorating pressure-sensitive tape.
- Places
- Yonge Street (Toronto, Ont.)
- Accession Number
- 2003-6-1
- Source
- Archival Descriptions
- Part Of
- Harold S. Kaplan fonds
- Architectural projects series
- Loew's Uptown Theatre (Toronto) sub-series
- Level
- Sub-series
- ID
- Fonds 27; Series 1-2
- Source
- Archival Descriptions
- Part Of
- Harold S. Kaplan fonds
- Architectural projects series
- Loew's Uptown Theatre (Toronto) sub-series
- Level
- Sub-series
- Fonds
- 27
- Series
- 1-2
- Material Format
- architectural drawing
- graphic material
- Date
- 1919-1968
- Physical Description
- 132 architectural drawings : pencil (some on tracing paper, some hand col. using pencil crayon), blueprints and other reproductions ; 76 x 106 cm or smaller
- 5 photographs : b&w ; 44 x 55 cm or smaller
- Admin History/Bio
- One of sixteen theatres in Canada designed by the well-known architect Thomas W. Lamb, the Uptown Theatre opened in 1920 as a movie and vaudeville theatre of almost 3000 seats, and was later the first theatre in Toronto equipped for sound movies. In 1960 the Uptown's main auditorium was destroyed by a major fire. Kaplan & Sprachman participated in the theatre's subsequent renovation.
- In 1969 the Uptown was split into a five screen theatre through conversion of the theatre's balcony, backstage and basement areas. The Uptown was closed and demolished in late 2003 following the 28th Annual Toronto International Film Festival after the cinema operator, Famous Players, decided to close it and other theatres rather than comply with an Ontario Human Rights Commission order to make the theatres fully wheelchair-accessible.
- Scope and Content
- Sub-series consists of seating plans, blueprints of structural details, floor plans, sections and elevations for successive alterations (to the entrance, lobby, escalator, etc.) of the theatre, as well as several photographs of the Uptown's entrance and auditorium. The sub-series includes a number of hand-coloured drawings of the main auditorium dating from 1962, with paint and fabric samples attached, apparently associated with the re-building of the auditorium following the fire of 1960. The sub-series also includes a set of photo-reproductions of Thomas Lamb's original 1919 plans for the theatre, acquired by Kaplan & Sprachman in 1960.
- The sub-series is arranged in 9 sub-sub-series corresponding to project dates of 1919, 1936, 1945, 1949, 1960, 1962, and 1968. The final sub-sub-series relates to work done by Kaplan after the dissolution of Kaplan & Sprachman.
- In several cases, a sub-sub-series includes drawings and plans from earlier projects, used as reference materials for the current project.
- Name Access
- Lamb, Thos. W. (Thomas White), 1871-1942
- Uptown Theatre (Toronto, Ont.)
- Subjects
- Theaters
- Physical Condition
- Some drawings torn or water-damaged. Some are discoloured or damaged by deteriorating pressure-sensitive tape.
- Places
- Toronto (Ont.)
- Accession Number
- 2003-6-1
- Source
- Archival Descriptions
- Level
- Item
- ID
- Item 1695
- Source
- Archival Descriptions
- Level
- Item
- Item
- 1695
- Material Format
- graphic material
- Date
- [ca. 1929]
- Physical Description
- 1 photograph : b&w ; 9 x 14 cm
- Scope and Content
- This item is a photograph of a group of young students with their teachers at the Talmud Torah Yeshiva in Stashov, Poland. Shmiel Nepom is pictured in the third row, fourth from the (left?).
- Notes
- Shmiel Nepom was the father of the donor.
- Name Access
- High Yeshiva for Instruction of Stashiver (Stashov, Poland)
- Subjects
- Students
- Teachers
- Yeshivas
- Repro Restriction
- Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.
- Places
- Poland
- Accession Number
- 1979-3-6
- Source
- Archival Descriptions